ENGL 301

Spring 2026 All Classes

All Classes

Introduction to Critical Theory

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Credit: 3 hours.

Introduction to the critical frameworks and methods that have had the greatest impact on the field of literary studies. Students will read, discuss, and write about numerous theoretical approaches, which might include (but are not limited to) critical race studies, environmental theory, feminism, Marxism, postcolonialism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, queer theory, and structuralism. No previous background with theory is required.

Prerequisite: Completion of the Composition I requirement; one year of college literature or consent of instructor. Restricted to English majors.

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ENGL 301 class schedule data for spring 2026
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
48565	Lecture-Discussion	D	11:00AM -11:50AM	MWF	336 Davenport Hall	Gilmore, S	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Section Info: SP26 ENGL 301 - Intro to Critical Theory - ENGL 301 surveys major developments in what we in the humanities call critical theory, a loosely connected series of authors, concepts, and movements that inform how we read (and think) now. You may have encountered some waypoints in this tradition--figures like Marx, Freud, Said, and Butler--but will recognize key ideas and interpretive moves throughout. We will work together not to master canonized authors and their claims but to trace how ideas and methods came into being, and what we should do with them now. Along the way, we will work together on some shared texts, including prose, film, and comics, to figure out with how we might apply theory while learning it.Non-majors who wish to take ENGL 301 may email englishadvising@illinois.edu to request an override. Restriction(s): Restricted to English or Creative Writing or Creative Writing or Creative Writing major(s) or minor(s). Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
48564	Lecture-Discussion	Q	9:30AM -10:45AM	TR	149 English Building	Basu, A	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Section Info: Non-majors who wish to take ENGL 301 may email englishadvising@illinois.edu to request an override. Restriction(s): Restricted to English or Creative Writing or Creative Writing or Creative Writing major(s) or minor(s). Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
48566	Lecture-Discussion	S	12:30PM -1:45PM	TR	119 English Building	Loughran, T	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Section Info: SP26 ENGL 301- Intro to Critical Theory - Trish Loughran - In this course, we will survey major developments in the history of thinking hard from the eighteenth century to today. Along the way, we will ask a series of interrelated questions about the rise of critical reason that this thing we call “theory” both performs and critiques. For example: was the Enlightenment (and its radically new emphasis on reason) emancipatory or repressive? How did such patterns of thinking emerge alongside material developments like the rise of capitalism, colonialism, and decolonization? Are aesthetics essentially a-political or does art participate (for good or bad) in the world of politics and power? Can historical consciousness serve as a corrective to the gross inequities of the world we have inherited from the past, or is History (with a capital H) a Trojan horse left behind amongst the wreckage of the Enlightenment? And what does any of this have to do with language, literature, and/or culture more broadly? Like any survey, we will cover a lot of big broad ideas along the way (like Marxism, structuralism, poststructuralism, feminism, queer theory, and postcolonialism). But rest assured (newcomers), we will do our best to work through these unwieldy abstractions in a way that: a) makes sense, b) challenges you, and c) does not put any of us to sleep (or drive us crazy). This is, in short, an introduction to the history of such ideas, and any lively, alert, thinking reader should be able to keep up. A large part of this class is about WHAT theory says. But an even bigger part is simply about learning HOW to read theory. And we will do that by doing what we do in every English class: by reading the text itself closely. Non-majors who wish to take ENGL 301 may email englishadvising@illinois.edu to request an override. Restriction(s): Restricted to English or Creative Writing or Creative Writing or Creative Writing major(s) or minor(s). Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.